Rail-chair.



A. G. LIEBMANN.

RAIL CHAIR.

APPLIOATIDN FILED JULY8,1913. RENEWED DEC. 14, 1914.

Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

THE NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHOTO-LITHO. WASHINGmN. D c

"TUNTTEU tdTATES PA a AUGUST G. LIEBIEANN, BUTTE, MONTANA, ASSIGNOR TOVIGNOLES RAIL CHAIR COII'IPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OFDELAWARE.

RAIL-CHAIR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 8, 1913, Serial No. 777,949. Renewed December 1%,1914. Serial No. 877,274.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Aucusr G. LIEBMANN,citizen of the United States, residing at Butte, in the county ofSilverbow and State of Montana, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Rail-Chairs, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to track appliances and particularly to railchairs for supporting and holding the rails in a proper position uponthe ties.

The primary object of my invention is to do away with the necessity ofattaching the rails to the ties by means of spikes in direct contactwith the rail flange. This practice has many disadvantages. The lateralthrust upon the rails tends to cause the spikes to wear in the tiethereby enlarging the spike openings, and the lateral thrust upon therails further tends to tip the rail upon the edge of one base flange sothat the spikes are withdrawn or at least considerably loosened. Themain reason for this loosening action of the rails is due to the factthat the spikes only grip the margin of the rail base and that there isnothing to support and buttress the heads of the spikes and rail toprevent the tipping and displacing action.

A further object of my invention is to provide a rail chair soconstructed that the rail may be adjusted laterally or vertically andheld in this adjusted position.

A still further object of the invention is to provide means of suchsimple form that the adjustment of the rail, either laterally orvertically, can be achieved by a section hand and with the simple toolswhich he ordinarily carries.

A further object is to so construct the rail chair and the rail-holdingmeans that creeping of the rail will be prevented and sawing andcrushing of ties will be eliminated.

A further object is to provide a rail chair so formed that the lateralthrust exerted upon the head of the rail will be translated into anearly vertical thrust, thus resisting any tendency to tip.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a tie, a rail thereon andmy improved rail chair; Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof; Fig. 3 is an endview transverse to the longitudinal axis of the rail; and Fig. 4 is aperspective view of one of the wedging members.

Referring to these drawings, A designates a tie and B a rail. The tiemay be of any standard form and is illustrated as of wood. The rail Bmay have any suitable form, but is illustrated as the standard railcommonly used throughout the United States. The rail is supported uponthe tie by means of a base plate designated 2 upon which the rail rests.This base plate is held to the tie by means of screw spikes 3. Inasmuchas the spikes do not have to be withdrawn or redriven, screw spikesshould be used. The base plate 2 has a width equal to that of the tie soas to secure a perfectly firm and extended bearing surface, and thisbase plate is provided adjacent its opposite ends with the upwardlyextending abutments 4 These abutments are disposed parallel to eachother and are spaced apart a distance greater than the width of a railbase. Each of these abutments at its upper end is enlarged so as to forma bulb 5, this bulb having a longitudinally extending bore 6 openingupon the inside face of the bulb. Disposed against the rail on each facethereof are the rail braces 7. Each of these braces extends downwardlyand outwardly and at its upper end is formed with a head 8 bearingagainst the head of the rail and at its lower end or edge with a basalportion 9, which, in the instance shown, bears against the upper face ofthe flange of the rail and has the same area as the upper face of theflange. Each of the rail braces 7 is formed with a plurality oflongitudinally extending corrugations 10.

Disposed between the rail braces 7 and the abutments i are the wedgingmembers 11, one of which is shown in Fig. 4. Each wedging member islongitudinally tapered and is formed upon the face which confronts therail brace 7 with a longitudinally extending groove 12 which receivesany one of the corrugations 10. In other words, the confronting face ofthe wedging member is corrugated so as to co-act with and engage thecorrugations 10 of the rail brace. The back of each wedging member isformed with a longitudinally extending bulb 13 which is adapted to fitwithin the bore 6. This bulb is, of course, not tapered. The wedgingmember and the bulb thereof are longer than the abutment & and thebulbous portion 13 of the wedging member is con terminous with thewedging member and provided with openings or perforations for cotterpins 14.

The operation of my invention will be obvious from the drawings and thedescription above. When it is desired to hold the rail midway betweenthe two abutments, the wedges 11 are adjusted to the position shown inFigs. 1 and 3 so that the wedging members have staggered relation.l/Vhen, however, it is desired to shift the rail laterally one of thewedging members is shifted in one direction, while the other member isshifted in the opposite direction. One of these members will, therefore,wedge the rail laterally, while the other will permit such wedging ofthe rail. With the parts so adjusted and in proper position the cotterpins lt are put in place so as to hold the wedging members in theiradjusted position.

It will be noted that there are a plurality of the longitudinalcorrugations 10 and that, therefore, the rail may be elevated by meansof a shim l5 and that after the elevation of the rail the wedgingmembers may be readjusted so as to still engage with the corrugations ofthe rail braces 7. It will be seen that the overhanging lip forming theupper wall of the bore 6 engaging the wedging member as it does willprevent any upward rotative movement of this member and, therefore, therail will be held firmly upon the bed plate. At the same time, thewedging members may be very readily forced out of their wedgingengagement and the rail adjusted either laterally or vertically.

The rail chair forming the subject matter of the present case isparticularly adapted to the North Central States and the NorthwesternStates and will permit of wide range of lateral and vertical adjustment.In this region where rock ballasted roadbed is used, my improved railfastener is particularly advantageous.

The abutments 00- act with the wedges and rail braces in such a mannerthat the fastening compensates for the stresses of the rail when loadedby a slight pivotal movement of the wedges at their point of contactwith the abutments. The abutments and braces being of equal length, theload of the rail is distributed in such a manner that in the passing ofwheels, one side of the chair is in tension, while the other is incompression, both longitudinally and transversely of the rail. The railis held down in a manner compensating for strain and avoids impact atany concentrated point, thereby eliminating the sawing of the railwithin the chair and eliminating consequent sawing and crushing of thecross ties.

It is to be noted that there will be no shearing action on the rail basein case the bulb 5 will yield before the rail base will shear and thewedge will rotate slightly within the bore of the abutment.

Attention is particularly called to the ofiicial report of the BlockSignal and Train Control Board of the Interstate Commerce Commission,dated June 29, 1912, wherein the board referred to the failure toreailze and appreciate the overturning movement of the rail due to wheelflange pressure as being a fundamental effect in design. It will benoted that the tilting thrust on the rail is resisted by the downwardlyand outwardly inclined rail braces and translated in a nearly verticalthrust upon the base plate. This report further states that underconditions existing in a large proportion of the railroads in thiscountry the means of adjustment of rail to tie must be such as willpermit of blocking up or shimming, and, further, the board says thatadequate means should be provided for adjusting the gage, which meansshould not involve lost motion or change of adjustment. It will be notedthat my improved rail chair conforms to all of these requirements andyet retains such simplicity as will permit it to be readily manufacturedand easily operated.

hat I claim is 1. A rail chair having an upstanding abutment, a railengaging member adapted to engage against the fishing space of a rail,and a longitudinally tapered wedging'member disposed between theabutment and the rail engaging member and having interlocking engagementwith the abutment and the rail engaging member, the rail engaging memberbeing vertically adjustable with relation to the wedging member wherebyto permit the rail to be raised with relation to the chair.

2. A rail chair comprising a bed plate having upstanding abutmentsspaced from each other a distance greater than the width of a rail base,downwardly and outwardly inclined rail braces adapted to engage onopposite sides of a rail and disposed between the abutments, the outerfaces of the rail braces being longitudinally corrugated, and wedgingmembers disposed between the abutments and the braces and each having acorrugated face engaging the corrugated face of the corresponding railbrace, said wedging members having sliding engagement with the abutment.

3. A rail chair comprising a bed plate having upstanding abutmentsspaced from each other a distance greater than the width of a rail base,each of said abutments being formed with a bulb atits upper end, saidbulb being longitudinally bored, the bore opening upon the inner face ofthe bulb, rail braces disposed between the abutments and adapted toengage a rail, and wedging members having wedging engagement with saidabutments, each of said wedging members having a cylindricallongitudinally extending bulb adapted to be received within and havingsliding engagement with the bulb of the corresponding abutment.

at. A rail chair comprising a bed plate having upstanding abutmentsspaced from each other a distance greater than the width of a rail base,each of said abutments being formed with a bulb at its upper end, saidbulb being longitudinally bored, the bore opening upon the inner face ofthe bulb, rail braces disposed between the abutments and adapted toengage a rail, and wedging members having wedging engagement with saidabutments, each of said wedging members having a cylindricallongitudinally extending bulb adapted to be received within and havingsliding engagement with the bulb of the corresponding abutment, saidbulb on each wedging member having a length greater than the length ofthe corresponding abutment and being perforated for the passage ofholding means.

5. A rail chair comprising a bed plate having upwardly extendingabutments spaced from each other a distance greater than the width of arail base, each of said abutments being enlarged on its upper edge, theenlargement being formed with a long:- tudinally extending bore openingupon the inner face of the abutment, downwardly and outwardly inclinedrail braces disposed between the abutments and adapted to engage withthe base and head of a rail, and longitudinally tapered wedging membersdisposed between the abutments and the rail braces, the contacting facesof the braces and wedging members being longitudinally corrugated andinterlocking with each other,

each of said wedging members being provided with a longitudinallyextending bulb adapted to be received within the bore of thecorresponding abutment, the bulb portion of the wedging member beinglonger than the abutment and being provided with perforations and meansdisposed in said per forations and locking the wedging members fromlongitudinal movement.

(3. The combination with a tie and a rail, of a bed plate fastened tothe tie and having upstanding abutments spaced from each other adistance greater than the width of a rail base, downwardly and outwardlyextending rail braces disposed one on each side of the rail, the outerfaces of said rail braces being longitudinally corrugated, and a wedgingmember disposed on one side of each rail brace, each of said wedgingmembers being longitudinally tapered and having a corrugated inner faceadapted to engage the corrugations of the rail brace and each of saidwedging members having a sliding engagement with the correspondingabutment, and means for detachably holding said wedging members inproper adjusted position with relation to each abutment.

7. In a rail chair the combination with a. bed-plate having upstandingabutments, of a rail adapted to rest on the bed-plate or a shim betweensaid abutments and adjustable laterally and vertically of said bedplate, corrugated rail braces engaging opposite sides of the rail, andmeans having interlocking engagement with the ab utments and braces forshifting the rail laterally and vertically and holding said rail inlaterally and vertically adjusted positions.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AUGUST G. LIEBMANN. a s.] Witnesses:

WILLIAM I. Lrrrrnco'rr, WM. NUss.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

